Page 23 of She's My Kind of Girl

There were a lot of downcast gazes. Gracie shrugged and gave her a sympathetic look. “Sorry, Darcy, but it’s a good project. It will really help the town.”

Harmony Jones spoke up. “If the town’s conditions improve, we’ll be able to revive Main Street. We can open a storefront bakery and other businesses could open as well. With a thriving Main Street and the river we could appeal to tourists looking to get away from the city. There’s a growing trend of people wanting to disconnect and take weekend getaways in small towns.”

Sam Roberts’s head tilted and he narrowed his gaze on Harmony for a fraction of a second before he turned to Darcy. “The economic downturn hit the community hard. Farmers are hurting with the seed programs put in place. People are leaving. This project will help Revival move in the right direction. Your mom will be happier.”

Darcy frowned. “You don’t know that.”

Sam shrugged. “If this doesn’t happen, the town will wither and die.”

“That’s ominous,” Darcy said. How could Sam possibly know that?

Sam looked her dead in the eye and a chill passed through her. “It’s the truth. Griffin will help save the town.”

She could only stare at him. A strange sense of . . . something filling her chest.

Again, Sam gave her a look she couldn’t decipher. “So can you.”

Her throat tightened. On the surface he appeared to be talking about her standing in the way of the sale, but underneath something niggled at her. It was as though he knew something she didn’t.

Mitch cleared his throat. “Come by my office in the morning and we can talk.”

Darcy nodded and finally looked at her cards. Three aces stared back at her. A winning hand, but she felt no surge of excitement. She frowned. The need to explain her actions grew in her chest. She needed these people to understand that she wasn’t being difficult. She was doing this for her mom.

Several moments of silence passed before she said, “She’s my mom. She asked for my help and I couldn’t say no.”

Gracie took her hand and squeezed. “We know. There’s not a person at this table who wouldn’t move heaven and earth for their family. We get it. All we ask is that you think about it.”

Darcy raised her gaze to Griffin, who stared back at her with an intent expression. As though he was trying to peer right into her.

She nodded. “I will.”

* * *

Several hours later, after cards and food and lots of drinking, Darcy stood next to her car in the Rileys’ driveway. The wind whipped her cheeks as she stared up into the night winter sky. Despite the cold, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the stars filled the inky blackness.

She’d forgotten how beautiful it was. Breathless, she just looked up into the vastness, the millions of scattering dots of lights. When was the last time she’d seen anything like this?

She remembered when. The last night she’d spent at home, her and Griffin under the stars.

Someone came up behind her, and she didn’t have to turn around to know it was Griffin. The heat of his body was familiar, like a forgotten dream.

Several moments passed before he spoke. “You okay, Darce?”

She pointed up at the sky. “I’d forgotten.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and she let him. “Do you remember how we’d go to the bluff in the summer and lie out on the rocks?”

She did remember. Their hands clasped, eyes turned to the stars. It’s where they were their truest selves. Where they forgot about causing trouble and making sure the world thought they were rotten to the core. They’d talked, about life and their dreams, about their hopes and desires.

She bit her lip. “What happened to all those things you used to want?”

He was silent for a minute before he said, “I grew up.”

She was slightly buzzed, and all she really wanted was to rest against him. So she did. When she settled against his strong chest, a shot of longing, so fierce it surprised her, made her thighs quiver. He felt so right.

Like coming home after a long journey and finally sleeping in your own bed again.

He pulled her tighter, his lips brushing her temple.

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